US commits $5 billion to develop new vaccines, therapies for COVID-19
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Key takeaways:
- The White House announced a $5 billion project to develop new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
- The goal is to create vaccines and therapies with broader protection against SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses.
The United States will commit $5 billion to develop new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments that will work against future variants of SARS-CoV-2, Biden administration officials told reporters.
Project Next Gen, as the effort has been named, will rely on public-private partnerships in the same way that its predecessor, Operation Warp Speed, did to quickly develop the first COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, officials told The Washington Post and USA Today. The plan was first reported in The Washington Post.
“As we move into the next phase of COVID, there will be a need to advance medical countermeasures beyond the current ones that successfully tamed the virus,” Amesh A. Adalja, MD, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Healio. “Project Next Gen, coupled to already ongoing private efforts, will help accelerate that process and eventually make COVID-19 even more manageable than it currently is.”
The goals of the project include developing not only next-generation vaccines for future SARS-CoV-2 variants but also broader, pan-coronavirus vaccines that protect against all coronaviruses and mucosal vaccines that can be delivered at the site of infection, officials said.
The project will also pay for the development of longer lasting monoclonal antibodies that will remain effective against new variants. The five monoclonal antibodies developed for COVID-19 were highly effective for a time but lost their potency against new variants and are no longer authorized for use by the FDA.
Dawn O’Connell, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at HHS, told The Washington Post that her team already informed companies working on monoclonals that the government may be investing more money in them.
According to the Post report, the $5 billion that HHS has earmarked for the project was taken from funds intended for COVID-19 testing “and other priorities.” An HHS spokesperson did not immediately return a message from Healio asking about funding sources for the project.
References:
Diamond D. White House launching $5 billion program to speed coronavirus vaccines. Washington Post. April 10, 2023. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/10/operation-warp-speed-successor-project-nextgen/.
Weintraub K. White House to invest $5 billion in next-generation COVID vaccines. Here’s why we need new ones. USA Today. April 10, 2023. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/04/10/project-next-generation-coronavirus-vaccines-biden-administration/11636925002/.
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Diamond D. White House launching $5 billion program to speed coronavirus vaccines. Washington Post. April 10, 2023. Accessed April 11, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/04/10/operation-warp-speed-successor-project-nextgen/.
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